Floods on Nepal-China Border Kill Hundreds, Trap Workers in Hydropower Tunnels as Nepal's Delay in Accepting Foreign Aid Draws Criticism

The disaster began last Wednesday when bedrock beneath a Himalayan glacier collapsed, triggering an ice-and-rock avalanche that scientists said registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event, according to the Associated Press. The resulting torrent swept through river valleys in Tibet and Nepal, destroying buildings, bridges, and roads, and burying multiple hydropower construction sites under mud and debris.

Nepal's disaster management department reported 903 deaths and 4,247 missing within the country, according to NPR, while Chinese authorities last updated their figures on Saturday at 16 dead and 546 missing — numbers that had not changed in more than 48 hours as of Monday, a gap NPR and the AP both noted. The AP reported that China's Foreign Ministry denied that Beijing had ignored early warning signs or downplayed casualty figures, insisting that its release of information had been transparent and timely.

Rescue efforts were focused on workers trapped inside large tunnels at hydropower projects, particularly the Upper Trishuli-1 and Trishuli-3 sites in Rasuwa district. Geoscientist Jakob Steiner, quoted by the AP, described the tunnels as large enough to drive trucks through and said oxygen had been delivered to some of those inside, though he called it "a race for time." Four bodies were recovered from three tunnels as of Monday, Nepal's army said. Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers' Association of Nepal, told the AP that fears were growing that some workers may have suffocated six days after the initial disaster.